Electricity: FG, generation firms lock horns over payment
The Federal Government and some of electricity Generation Companies (GenCos) are set for a collision over the recently filed law suit on poor payment on the energy they generated in the past.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, at the 25th monthly power sector meeting held in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, yesterday, addressed the development, saying he was not afraid of the law courts “and will meet you (them) there to vigorously defend our (government’s) position.”
He said, “Those who choose to hide temporarily in the courts of law can do so, but the court of public opinion will scrutinise you and its verdict may be very scathing, unkind and enduring.”
Daily Trust reports that some privatised GenCos were recently in court over what they described as unfair treatment from the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) on the 80 per cent payment of their energy bills supplied to the Distribution Companies (DisCos) while paying 100 per cent to the new GenCo, Azura Power, in Edo State.
Fashola said the GenCos reported the issue to government and in less than seven days went to court for redress without giving much time for him to address the case.
He, however, clarified that Azura had a Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) backing with NBET that mandated a 100 per cent payment for the GenCo to operate, while the privatised GenCos had no such agreement with NBET when they took over from PHCN in 2013.
The minister cited some interventions of the Federal Government to ensure the about 23 GenCos have better operating environment; especially with the N701bn Payment Assurance Guarantee (PAG) initiated in 2017.
“They must explain to this public court whether they went to court before government approved a N701bn Payment Assurance Guarantee to pay their monthly power bills.
“They must disclose to this court that they now receive about 80 per cent income, and that this government is now paying them revenues collected from international customers, in dollars, as against the naira payment they used to receive,” Fashola said in his speech.
On metering, the minister said the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) had concluded the Meter Asset Providers regulation that would provide the framework to license new firms to complement the efforts of DisCos to supply meters with initial funding from government’s N39bn meter financing.